New research explores how giving horses meaningful opportunities for choice, control, challenge and competence can contribute to better welfare, and what this means for how we manage, train and interact with horses.
Putting the horse first has traditionally meant providing good nutrition, appropriate housing, veterinary care and protection from pain and distress. But welfare science is increasingly asking a broader question: what opportunities does a horse have to influence what happens in its life?
In a new review published in Animal Welfare, Lindsay Goodale of Cornell University explores the role of agency in domestic horse welfare. The paper considers how opportunities for choice and control could contribute not only to preventing poor welfare, but also to creating more positive experiences.
Agency describes an animal's ability to influence its circumstances through its behaviour. For horses, this might mean choosing where to rest, which food to eat, whether to interact with another horse, or whether to participate in an interaction with a person.
Goodale considers agency through four connected ideas: choice, control, challenge and competence.
The aim is not to give horses unlimited freedom, but to create appropriate opportunities for them to make choices, respond to their environment and develop skills that help them cope successfully with everyday life.
The principle has practical implications across horse management.
Opportunities for movement and exploration can give horses greater control over how they use their environment. Appropriate forage variety, different substrates or access to shelter can allow horses to respond to changing conditions according to their individual preferences.
Social relationships are equally important. Horses are social animals, and welfare may benefit when they have opportunities for appropriate interaction with other horses, including, where possible, some choice over social partners and the ability to move away from unwanted interactions.
Human interaction provides another important opportunity for agency. In training and routine care, recognising behavioural signals, using reward-based approaches and allowing appropriate opportunities to pause or opt out can make interactions more cooperative.
This requires us to look beyond whether a horse simply complies and consider what the horse is communicating during the interaction.
A key message from the review is that horses are individuals. What provides a positive experience for one horse may not have the same value for another.
Temperament, previous experience, social preferences, environment and physical condition can all influence how a horse responds to different choices and opportunities.
Goodale therefore advocates a “best fit” rather than a rigid “best practice” approach. Good welfare requires both evidence-based principles and careful observation of the individual horse.
For equestrian sport, agency offers a useful way of thinking about what it means to put the horse first.
Welfare is not only about avoiding harm. It is also about creating conditions in which horses can experience positive states, exercise appropriate control and develop confidence and competence.
The question, therefore, is not simply what can we ask of horses? It is also what opportunities can we give them to participate in their own lives?
For the foundation, this perspective fits naturally with the aim of advancing equestrian sport on the horse’s terms and ensuring that scientific knowledge genuinely supports horse wellbeing.
A practical question follows.
The next time we make a decision about a horse’s environment, training or daily routine, it may be worth asking:
Where can this horse have an appropriate choice — and what can that choice tell us?
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Two days. One shared goal: advancing horse welfare through science, education and practice. Join leading international experts at the Horse Welfare Summit 2026, where Dr Andrew McLean will deliver two keynote lectures and receive the Professor Ingvar Fredricson Foundation Scholarship.
A new review examines how smartphones are becoming genuine tools for monitoring a horse's soundness, heart rate and recovery, and even for meeting international competition requirements. Among the systems it highlights is Sleip, co-founded by Dr. Elin Hernlund, one of the Foundation's own scholarship recipients, whose work builds on decades of Swedish equine biomechanics research going back to Professor Ingvar Fredricson himself.
On November 2, visitors gathered in Hall B at the Jönköping Horse Show for the Professor Ingvar Fredricson Foundation’s 2025 scholarship ceremony, celebrating groundbreaking Swedish research in equine biomechanics. From the pioneering efforts of the 1970s—when high‑speed cameras and manual measurements were the researcher’s tools—to today’s AI‑powered motion analysis and robotic hoof simulators, the audience was taken on a journey through decades of innovation. Professors Lars Roepstorff and Marie Rhodin, together with Associate Professor Elin Hernlund, shared their latest breakthroughs, followed by live demonstrations showing how AI and high‑precision sensors are transforming the understanding of horse–rider interaction. Moderator Jens Fredricson guided the dialogue and inspired exchange between researchers, while post‑event discussions with attendees helped build valuable bridges between research and practice.
The FEI's guardian framework resonates with the work we champion at the Professor Fredricson Foundation. Advancing equestrian sport means placing the horse's welfare and wellbeing at the center — not as an afterthought, but as the foundation upon which all excellence is built.